Ilse Koch at the trial of former Buchenwald personnel

This cannot be forgotten. Ilse Koch: what the “Witch of Buchenwald” and “Frau Lampshaded” did

Frau Lampshaded wore underwear made of human skin.

Ilse Köhler was not cruel or sadistic as a child. She was born in Dresden into the family of a factory worker: they lived not richly, but without poverty. Ilsa studied with excellent marks; eyewitnesses spoke of her as a cheerful and diligent child. After school, Fraulein Köhler went to work in the library. Visitors praised the new employee in unison: “nice girl”, “helpful and friendly”, “ pure angel" However, in the soul of the angel, demons had already prevailed: in 1932, even before Hitler came to power, Ilse joined the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (NSDAP), and in 1934 she married SS officer Karl-Otto Koch (taking his last name ), and in 1936 she got a job as a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. A year later, Koch was appointed commandant of the notorious Buchenwald: there, the “helpful and friendly” Ilse turned into a monster.

POW bra

Thirty-year-old Ilsa immediately drew attention to prisoners with tattoos, first of all, former criminals, and then sailors who had previously sailed to Japan or Malaya: they made drawings on the skin with red or green ink, unusual for that time. The “librarian” was also interested in gypsies: their tattoos often depicted devils, devils or mermaids. One fine day (in December 1940), Ilse Koch appeared at a Christmas reception for SS officers and boasted there of a brand new handbag with a drawing of a red monkey: she did not at all hide the fact that the handbag itself and the thin ladies’ gloves “included” were made... from human skin .

According to the testimony of former Buchenwald prisoners, Ilse launched a real hunt for people with tattoos in the concentration camp. The victims chosen by her, under the pretext of a medical examination, were taken to the camp infirmary and there they were killed by lethal injection: the commandant forbade the execution so as not to spoil the “picture” with a bullet. Pathologists “skinned” the corpse, and then the skin fell into the hands of dressing specialists (also from among the prisoners). The wives of SS officers gasped enviously when they came to Ilsa’s home: she showed off her leather lampshades self made, book bindings, paintings on the walls and even a tablecloth for kitchen table from the back of a Parisian cabaret singer. In 1941, the commandant's wife received the rank of senior matron: although her husband was transferred to Majdanek, she remained working in Buchenwald. For her terrible hobby, the “pure angel” received the nickname “Frau Lampshade” among the prisoners.

However, she generally had plenty of nicknames: “The Red Witch” (for her love of tattoos in red ink), “The Beast of Buchenwald”, “The Butcher’s Widow”. In her addiction, she reached complete madness: Ilse Koch even made her underwear from human skin. The number of people killed by her cannot be counted: there were probably hundreds of them. After the German attack on the USSR, Ilsa, in a conversation with her friends, rejoiced: Soviet prisoners of war began to arrive at Buchenwald, many had tattoos on their chests in the form of church domes or coats of arms Soviet Union. Such people were killed within 2-3 days after arriving in Buchenwald. Doctor Erich Wagner, bribed by Ilsa, helped hide the death, indicating a heart attack in the “cause of death” column.

Ilse Koch before the US military tribunal in Dachau, 8/7/1947

Poisoned pregnant women with a shepherd dog

Products made from human skin are not all that the commandant’s wife distinguished herself with. As a warden, she regularly beat the inhabitants of the camp with a whip, set a shepherd dog on pregnant women, receiving real sadistic pleasure from the sight of blood. According to Buchenwald prisoners, they were not as afraid of even the cruelest SS guards as they were of this crazy creature in a black uniform. In addition to murders and lampshade production, Ilse Koch was engaged in “earning money.” Both she and her husband stole jewelry from dead people sent to the gas chamber: as a rule, these were gold teeth, earrings and wedding rings. In total, the SS couple stole gold worth a million Reichsmarks.

The SS leadership turned a blind eye to the bloody massacres of prisoners in the concentration camp, but could not forgive the theft of finances. On August 24, 1943, Ilse and her husband were arrested on charges of “personal enrichment, causing economic damage to the Reich and physically eliminating witnesses to their crimes.” Frau Lampshaded was kept in prison for 16 months and eventually released: during this time, the camp priest, who promised to give necessary readings. Soon the Red Witch became a widow: for the theft of “funds belonging to Germany,” Standartenführer Koch was sentenced to death. The ex-commandant appealed to the judges, asking to be sent to a penal battalion for Eastern Front, however, they did not hear the request: on April 5, 1945, Koch was shot.

Exhibition of human remains and artifacts recovered by the US Army from the SS-run pathology laboratory at Buchenwald. These items were used as evidence of SS atrocities in the Buchenwald war crimes trial

Disappearance of “souvenirs”

The American soldiers who liberated Buchenwald were shocked by the prisoners' stories about Ilse Koch. In addition, they discovered in the guards' house a collection straight out of horror films: human internal organs in beautiful jars, tied with ribbons, like gifts. On June 30, 1945, Ilse Koch was taken into custody by the American military administration, and in 1947 she was sentenced to life in prison. However, by this time she was eight months pregnant (she managed to get pregnant from a captured German soldier with whom she was sharing a cell).

Soon, General Lucius Clay, commandant of the US occupation zone in Germany, said: despite the testimony of dozens of eyewitnesses, there is no direct evidence that Ilse Koch skinned people and made handbags out of it. All the “souvenirs” mysteriously disappeared. And, according to Clay, the main thing: “She did not kill American or other citizens of allied countries, so there is no reason to keep her behind bars.” And Ilsa herself calmly told the press: yes, she was fond of making leather items for the home, but only from goat skins.

Frau Lampshaded was released, and this led to such widespread outrage that in 1949, West German authorities arrested Ilse Koch. Four witnesses testified at the trial: they personally saw how, on the orders of the commandant, they killed tattooed prisoners and removed their skin; they observed with their own eyes lampshades sewn from it. The court did not believe them. However, there were enough other crimes: the former librarian from Dresden was never released. On September 1, 1967, sixty-year-old Ilse Koch rolled a rope out of a sheet and hanged herself in her cell at the Aichach women's prison. Shortly before her death, she complained of hallucinations: dead Buchenwald prisoners came to her through the walls and demanded her skin back. Frau Lampshaded has simply gone crazy.

Ilse Koch leaves the courtroom
From Karl-Otto Koch, Ilse gave birth to two sons. One of them subsequently (twenty years after the war) committed suicide, leaving a note: “I cannot live with the knowledge of my parents’ crimes.” The third son, named Ove (from a soldier-prisoner of war), gave several interviews to Western newspapers in 1971, declaring that he was going to “clear the name of his mother, who had turned into a monster.” Fortunately, it turned out that no one around him cared about his revelations. Warden Ilse Koch remained in history as she was: a mentally ill, sadistic killer in the service of the Nazi regime.

N.B. And after this and a million other completely stubborn criminals of the Nazi regime, some arrogant, stupid and fucking foreign minister of England was beyond belief... The height of moral ugliness. You have to be so bitter

During World War II, Germany was ruled by Nazi criminals. Oddly enough, there were also women among them. Thus, Ilse Koch, nicknamed Frau Lampshaded, is considered the most striking cruel warden. From a young age, the girl was an active participant in the National Socialist Workers' Party. She joined the NSDAP back in 1932.

During her time as a prison guard in concentration camps, Ilsa committed a huge number of crimes against humanity. The worst thing about them is that she and her husband made various products from human skin. However, to this day there is debate regarding the veracity of all the crimes attributed to this odious couple.

Childhood WWII concentration camp guards

In 1906, a beautiful daughter appeared in an ordinary German family in the city of Dresden. Parents had high hopes for their child's future. The ordinary family of the future “Witch of Buchenwald” did not suspect that their lovely girl, who brought only joy, would in the future receive the terrible nickname Frau Lampshade. The young girl did well at school, which gave her parents another reason to be calm about her future. After finishing school, Ilse Koch got a job in a library. The turning point in the girl’s life came with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1932. It was then that she, still cheerful and modest, joined the National Socialist Party, which in the near future led to her acquaintance with Karl Koch, Ilse’s future husband.

Husband of Buchenwald witches"

Karl Koch's father was an official from Darmiggadt. He was 13 years older than his mother. He died when the boy was eight years old. The future commandant of the concentration camps did not please his mother with good grades at school. And after some time, he dropped out of school altogether and got a job as a messenger at a local factory. As soon as he turned seventeen, the guy immediately enlisted in the army as a volunteer.

A year later, for exemplary service and excellent work, the couple was transferred to Just here the potential of a cruel woman was fully revealed. Acting as a warden, Ilse Koch, an SS she-wolf, organized daily torture sessions for prisoners. Not trusting anyone with even the most terrible work, Ilsa personally beat people with a whip or whip. The only one the woman could trust with her business was her hungry shepherd, who bit Buchenwald prisoners to death.

German concentration camps had never known such cruelty and mercilessness on the part of a fragile woman.

Frau Lampshaded

The commandant's wife became seriously interested in the prisoners whose bodies were decorated with tattoos. Much to their regret, they were the first in line to inevitably die. The whole point is that from the skin of prisoners Koch Ilsa, whose biography is already full of terrifying facts, made various crafts: starting from gloves and book bindings, ending with lampshades or even underwear. This woman's imagination knew no bounds.

In 1941, Frau Lampshaded was appointed to the position of senior matron, which gave her even more power and made her powers unlimited. Since then, Ilse Koch has allowed herself almost everything.

"Victims of slander"

Ilsa bragged about her cruel treatment of prisoners, as well as her “tricks,” to other guards. Therefore, the higher authorities soon learned about this. We must give them their due - the rumors led to the arrest of the couple for abuse of power. However, the first time the sadists were released without punishment, considering that they had become victims of a slander on the part of ill-wishers.

For some time, Karl Koch “atone for his sins” - he served as an adviser in another concentration camp, but soon the couple returned to their native Buchenwald.

Other crimes

In the autumn of the same 1941, Karl was appointed commandant of the concentration camp in Majdanek, where Elsa Koch - the “Witch of Buchenwald” - continued her abuse of prisoners with even greater passion. In 1942, her husband was convicted of corruption. This was the reason for his immediate removal from his position.

Medieval torture

Nazi criminals took unprecedented pleasure in tormenting and torturing prisoners. One of the couple's favorite weapons was a whip, along the entire length of which pieces of a sharp razor were inserted. Such a weapon could beat a person to death.

Karl introduced finger vices into widespread use, as well as hot iron branding. Such penalties could be applied to any violators of the concentration camp order. Throughout Germany, the order was the same, but the cruelty of the Kochs sometimes amazed even their like-minded people. The bloodthirstiness of the spouses frightened even the most cruel Nazis.

German concentration camps had the same laws and procedures: weak and sick prisoners were killed immediately, and those able to work were forced to work for the benefit of the Third Reich, and in inhumane conditions. Hunger and overwork led the prisoners to death, but Koch, watching this, reveled in power, and Ilsa came up with new sophisticated ways of bullying.

Execution of Karl Koch

A year after the first trial, Nazi criminals (although they were not considered such then, because the fascists themselves tried them at that time) were accused of the murder of Dr. Walter Kremen. During the investigation, SS officers established that he treated Karl for syphilis and was then killed to avoid publicity.

At the trial, which took place in 1944, the fact of theft on the part of the Kochs came to light, and this, in the eyes of the highest ranks of the SS, was an unforgivable crime.

During the investigation, it became known about the secret accounts of a couple of sadists. So, the funds that were supposed to go to the Reichsbank safe in Berlin ended up with the Kochs. The former commandant took all jewelry and personal belongings, money from his prisoners, and even snatched gold crowns from the dead. In this way, Karl Koch ensured the post-war well-being of his family.

And it was for this crime, and not for cruel treatment of prisoners or inhumane behavior in the camps, that the former commandant was shot in April 1945. Before his death, Koch begged to be allowed to serve his sentence in a penal battalion, but the judge was inexorable.

He was executed just a few days before the liberation of the camp by Allied forces. Ironically, this happened in the courtyard of the camp where the monster himself for several years controlled thousands of human destinies. His widow Ilse Koch was no less guilty than her husband. Almost all the surviving and released prisoners claimed that Karl committed crimes under the influence of his cruel and bloodthirsty wife. However, during the proceedings she was acquitted. For a while, the woman moved to live with her parents.

First conclusion

But Ilse Koch still had to answer for the crimes she committed. On June 30, 1945, she was taken into custody again, and the investigation lasted two years. In 1947, the SS court sentenced the she-wolf to life imprisonment.

Until the last moment, the woman denied her guilt, saying that she was only a “victim of the regime.” She refused to talk about involvement in terrible and terrifying “crafts” made from human skin, not admitting it at all.

To answer for her crimes, Ilse Koch appeared before an American military tribunal in the city of Munich. For several weeks, former prisoners of the Buchenwald camp testified against this scary woman. Their eyes were no longer burning with fear, but with anger.

The prosecutor said that the blood of fifty thousand Buchenwald prisoners congealed on Frau Lampshade’s hands. And the fact that a woman is pregnant cannot exempt her from punishment.

American General Emil Kiel read out the verdict: life imprisonment.

Ilse Koch: the SS she-wolf is on the loose again

But even here, luck did not abandon the “Witch of Buchenwald”. In 1951, General Lucius Clay, a prosecutor, shocked the whole world with his shocking statement. He released Ilsa Koch, citing the fact that there was not enough direct evidence against this woman. And Clay considered the testimony of hundreds of witnesses who spoke about the bullying and sadism of the she-wolf to be not strong enough for a life sentence.

The release of Frau Lampshaded caused a wave of indignation on the part of the people, so in the same 1951 the German government issued another order for her arrest.

Ilse Koch, out of habit, began to deny any accusations, explaining them by the fact that she was a hostage of circumstances, a servant of a strict regime. She did not want to admit guilt and said that all her life she had been surrounded by secret enemies of the Reich, who slandered her.

Last conclusion

The new Germany sought to atone for the massive and brutal crimes of the Nazis, and therefore the imprisonment of Ilse Koch was a matter of principle. She was immediately placed in the dock, and all the forces of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice were thrown into searching for new evidence in the Koch case.

Ultimately, 240 witnesses testified in her case. All these people again spoke about the atrocities of the sadistic family, called Buchenwald. And this time Ilsa Koch was judged not by the Americans, but by the Germans, whom, according to Frau Lampshaded herself, she had served faithfully in her time.

The court sentenced the war criminal to life imprisonment. And this time turned out to be the last: it was firmly stated that now Ilse Koch could not count on any leniency.

Suicide of the "Witch of Buchenwald"

In 1967, Ilse Koch wrote a letter to her son Uwe, who was born shortly after the first verdict. In it, she complained about the injustice of the judge's decision and wrote that now she had to answer for the sins of others. In all her letters to her son there was no hint of repentance for the crimes she had committed.

On September 1 of the same year, the “Witch of Buchenwald,” while in a cell in a Bavarian prison, had dinner for the last time, wrote a farewell letter for her son, and, tying up the sheets, hanged herself.

In 1971, Ilse Koch's son, whom she gave birth to from a German soldier, tried to restore his mother's bad name. He took her last name and appeared in court, having previously written a heartfelt letter to the editor of the New York Times newspaper. However, his attempts remained unsuccessful.

Germany, World War II - power in the hands of Nazi executioners. Among these was the executioner in a skirt, Ilse Koch, nicknamed the Witch of Buchenwald or Frau Lampshaded. She is considered one of the most brutal criminals of Nazi times. In her youth, the girl became an active participant in the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), which she joined back in 1932.

During her service as a prison guard in concentration camps, Ilsa committed many crimes against humanity. The most terrible of them is that she and her husband made various products from human skin. Even their SS colleagues felt uneasy when Ilse Koch showed off lampshades made from human skin.

Childhood of the Witch of Buchenwald

1906, Dresden - a beautiful daughter was born into an ordinary German family. The ordinary family of the future “Frau Lampshaded” could not even think that their charming girl, who brings them joy, would in the future receive the terrible nickname of the Witch of Buchenwald. In her youth, she did well at school, which was another reason for her parents to be calm about her future. After finishing school, Ilse Koch went to work in the library. The turning point in Ilse’s life came with her coming to power in 1932. It was at that time that she, then still cheerful and modest, joined the National Socialist Party, where she soon met Karl Koch, her future husband.

Man "Frau Lampshaded"

Karl Koch's father is an official from Darmiggadt. He died when the boy was 8 years old. The future commandant of the concentration camp was not pleased with his good grades at school. And after some time, he completely abandoned his studies and got a job as a messenger at a local factory. As soon as he turned 17, he immediately enlisted in the army as a volunteer.

At that time Western Europe has already been absorbed by the First world war. But due to his mother’s intervention, he was already sent home from the recruiting station. However, already in 1916, when Karl was 19, he was still able to go to the front. Karl had the opportunity to go through all the horrors of trench life on the most intense section of the Western Front. He ended the war in a prisoner of war camp, and when he returned to Germany, he immediately received the position of a bank employee, and in 1924 he got married. However, 2 years later the bank went bankrupt, and at the same time the future supervisor divorced.

An enterprising guy solved his problems with the help of the Nazis. He joined the SS. 1936 - Karl Koch led the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen. His abilities in this position were appreciated, because here he could be himself - a terrible sadist. It was precisely this quality of his character that helped Karl win Ilsa’s favor.

Elsa and Karl were exactly right for each other. And already in 1937, having got married, the Kokhov couple swore allegiance to the devil and began their official duties with terrifying bitterness and bloodthirstiness.

First brutal job

Karl and Ilse Koch were the first workers of the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen in the city of Oranienburg. Karl was appointed commandant, and his faithful wife was the custodian and acted as secretary.

A year later, the married couple, for exemplary service and excellent work, was transferred to the Buchenwald camp. And then the potential of the female monster was fully revealed. As a warden, Ilse Koch, the she-wolf of the SS, organized torture sessions for prisoners every day. Carrying out all the most terrible work, the Buchenwald witch personally beat the prisoners with a whip or whip. The only one the sadist could trust with her work was her hungry shepherd dog, which bit Buchenwald prisoners to death.

Even German concentration camps had never known such cruelty and mercilessness on the part of women.

Frau Lampshaded

The witch of Buchenwald began to take a serious interest in prisoners who had tattoos on their bodies. And it was they who became the first in line to certain death. All because from human skin Ilsa Koch, whose biography is already overcrowded terrible facts, made various products: from gloves with book bindings to lampshades or even underwear. This monster in a skirt had a lot of imagination.

1941 - Frau Lampshaded is appointed to the position of senior matron, and her powers become essentially unlimited. From that time on, the Buchenwald Witch could afford almost everything.

"Victims of slander"

Ilsa boasted of her cruelty towards prisoners to other guards. Therefore, soon the higher authorities found out about this. Rumors of brutality led to the Kochs' arrest for abuse of power. But the first time, the sadists were released without punishment; everyone attributed it to the fact that they had become victims of a slander on the part of ill-wishers.

For some time, Karl Koch “atone for his sins” - serving as an adviser in another concentration camp, but soon the couple returned to their native Buchenwald.

More crimes

1941, autumn - Karl is appointed commandant of the concentration camp in Majdanek, where Frau Abazhur was able to fully continue her abuse of prisoners with even greater passion. 1942 - Koch was convicted of corruption. This was the reason for his immediate removal from his position.

Medieval torture

The creepy couple took unprecedented pleasure in tormenting and torturing prisoners. One of the favorite weapons of the executioners was a whip, along the entire length of which pieces of a sharp razor were inserted. This weapon could easily beat a person to death.

Carl enjoyed using finger vices and also enjoyed branding people with a hot iron. These methods of punishment were applied to any violators of camp order. Throughout Nazi Germany, the order was the same, but the cruelty of the Kochs sometimes amazed even their like-minded people. The bloodthirstiness of the couple frightened even the most brutal Nazis.

German concentration camps had the same laws and procedures: weak and sick prisoners were killed immediately, and able-bodied prisoners worked for the benefit in inhumane conditions. Hunger and unbearable labor led the prisoners to death, but Karl, watching this, reveled in power, and his wife came up with more and more sophisticated ways of bullying.

Execution of Karl Koch

A year after the first trial, a new charge was brought forward for the murder of Dr. Walter Kremen. During the investigation, SS officers established that he treated Karl for syphilis, and then was killed to avoid publicity.

At the trial, held in 1944, facts of theft by the Kochs also came to light, and this, in the eyes of the highest ranks of the SS, was an unforgivable crime.

During the investigation, it became known about the secret accounts of the family of executioners. So, the funds that were supposed to go to the Reichsbank safe in Berlin ended up with the Kochs. The former commandant took away all jewelry and personal belongings, money from the prisoners, and snatched gold crowns from the dead. This is how the former commandant wanted to ensure the post-war well-being of his family.

And it was for this crime, and not for the sadistic treatment of prisoners in the camps, that Karl Koch was shot in April 1945. Before his death, he begged to be given the opportunity to serve his sentence in a hot spot in a penal battalion, but the judge was inexorable.

He was executed just a few days before the liberation of the camp by Allied troops. Ironically, this happened in the courtyard of that camp, where the fanatic himself for several years disposed of thousands human lives. The witch of Buchenwald was no less guilty than her husband. Almost all the survivors and freed prisoners claimed that Karl committed crimes under the influence of the cruel and ruthless Ilse. But during the trial she was acquitted. For a while, Frau Lampshaded went to live with her parents.

First conclusion

However, Ilse Koch still had to answer for the crimes committed. 1945, June 30 - she was again taken into custody, the investigation lasted two years. In 1947, the court sentenced the Buchenwald witch to life imprisonment.

To the last, she denied her guilt, insisting that she was just a “victim of the regime.” She refused to talk about her involvement in the creepy “products” made from human skin, without admitting it.

Ilse Koch appeared before an American military tribunal in the city of Munich. For several weeks, former prisoners of the Buchenwald camp testified against this monster in a skirt. Their eyes were no longer burning with fear, but with anger.

The prosecutor said she was responsible for the deaths of 50,000 Buchenwald prisoners. And the fact that the sadist is pregnant cannot exempt her from punishment.

American General Emil Kiel read out the verdict: life imprisonment.

Ilse Koch is free again

However, luck did not leave Frau Lampshaded here either. 1951 - General Lucius Clay, a prosecutor, shocked the whole world. He released Ilse Koch, justifying his decision by the fact that there was not enough direct evidence against this executioner in a skirt. And the general considered the fact that hundreds of witnesses testified about the bullying and sadism of the Buchenwald witch to be insufficiently weighty for a life sentence.

The release of Ilse Koch caused a wave of indignation on the part of the people, so in the same 1951 the German government arrested her again.

Frau Lampshaded, out of habit, began to deny the accusations, explaining that she had become a hostage of circumstances, a servant of the Nazi regime. She did not want to admit guilt and stated that all these years she had been surrounded by secret enemies of the Reich who had slandered her.

The last sentence

New Germany wanted to atone for the atrocities of the Nazis, and therefore the verdict for the Buchenwald witch became a matter of principle. She was immediately put back in the dock, and all the forces of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice were sent to search for new evidence in the case of the sadist.

As a result, 240 witnesses testified again in the case. All these people again talked about the atrocities of the monster family. And now the monster was judged not by the Americans, but by the Germans, whom, according to the Buchenwald Witch herself, she had served faithfully in her time.

The court sentenced the war criminal to life imprisonment. This time the verdict turned out to be the last: it was firmly stated that now Frau Koch could no longer count on any leniency.

Suicide

1967 - Frau Lampshaded wrote a letter to her son Uwe, who was born shortly after the first verdict. In it she complained about unfair judgment, wrote that she is now forced to answer for the sins of others. In all her letters to her son there was no hint of repentance for her atrocities.

1967, September 1 - “The witch of Buchenwald”, while in a cell in a Bavarian prison, wrote a farewell letter to her son, tied up sheets, and hanged herself.

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This woman is considered one of the most brutal criminals of Nazi times. Journalists covering the post-war trials of war criminals nicknamed her the Bitch of Buchenwald and Frau Lampshaded. However, not everything is so simple...

Else Köhler, a resident of Dresden, was eight years old when the First World War began. She was born in 1906 into an ordinary family that lived in difficult circumstances. These hardships instilled in the girl the understanding that life is a complicated thing. Elsa’s parents could not give her a secure future, and all her life she had to rely only on herself.

100% German

In the surviving photographs of her youth, Elsa looks far from beautiful. However, she had a high opinion of herself. To escape from the working environment, Elsa, at the age of fifteen, entered accounting school and then got a job as a clerk in the accounting department. The time was hard, hungry and sad. It is not surprising that Elsa immediately liked the new party that had appeared and its new leader, Adolf Hitler. But ten years passed years before Elsa joined the NSDAP. It was 1932. A year later, her idol Hitler came to power and a new life began.

Elsa was already 26 years old. Membership in the party gave her hope of finally entering into a decent marriage. Party comrades introduced her to the divorced loser Karl Otto Koch. Karl also came from the bottom of society, in the past he was a thief and a swindler, at one time he was used as an informer in the police, but thanks to the party he rose to the occasion and began to climb the career ladder.

Elsa liked Karl, Karl liked her. In 1936 they got married. Started ordinary life, except that it took place against the backdrop of special German realities. Compatriots began to be imprisoned and even exterminated. Elsa followed the party line in everything. And when Karl was appointed commandant of the German concentration camp Buchenwald, which was still intended for disloyal Germans and Jews, she followed her husband.

A picnic on the side of history

Life with Karl, however, did not work out. The “promising” party member turned out to be not only a sadist, but also a homosexual. Her husband’s special inclinations seemed to irritate Elsa, but she simply did not pay attention to it, and everyone lived as he liked - Karl raped male prisoners, and she discovered in herself an amazing desire for power. The prisoners feared their Frau Elsa, Mrs. Commandant, much more than Mr. Commandant.

She was an inventive woman. She came up with a variety of difficulties for the prisoners: she could force them to scrub the camp yard with toothbrushes, she could personally whip her with a whip, without which she did not go to the camp parade ground, she could order a young and handsome prisoner to be brought in for sexual entertainment - she liked to humiliate, she liked that she afraid, liked to instill a feeling of horror and attraction at the same time.

Survivors of Buchenwald told with a shudder that their witch got herself white horse, on which she traveled around the camp grounds and corrected the behavior of the unfortunate people with a whip. Often she appeared not on horseback, but on foot and with a huge shepherd dog, which with a sweet smile she released to tear the bodies of prisoners, often not only to the point of injury, but even to complete death.

To make their situation even more difficult for the prisoners, she appeared in front of her “racially impure men” in tight sweaters and incredibly short skirts and smiled with vindictiveness when she saw how it affected them. The prisoners did not evoke any pity from Mrs. Koch. For any violation that she considered significant, they were simply sent to die. No wonder on the gates of Buchenwald it was written: “To each his own.” The prisoners received theirs, and Elsa also took hers. It was here, in Buchenwald, that she began several affairs with SS men. Husband Karl also got his.

Since 1938, when the planned liquidation of Jews began and they began to arrive and arrive at the camp, Karl began to extort from the Jews cash. And, obviously, he was so successful in this matter that rumors of his enrichment in 1942 reached the Fuhrer’s headquarters. Everything might have worked out well if Karl had not ordered the murder of the doctor and the camp orderly, who knew Koch’s terrible secret - that he was a homosexual and that he had venereal diseases.

The investigation of the case was entrusted to SS officer Georg Conrad Morgen. In 1943, Commandant Koch was arrested and ended up in prison. Ms. Koch was also arrested. But if Karl was found guilty of both murder and conspiracy with the Jewish enemy, which instantly made him an enemy of the Reich, then Elsa was released for lack of evidence. And she lived quietly in freedom until June 1945, when the Americans arrested her. Karl was less fortunate: a month before the fall of Berlin he was shot in Munich.

Trials without evidence?

Elsa Koch was put on trial three times. And three times - for the same crime. A crime that could never be proven, but for which she was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment. The peculiarities of Mrs. Koch's behavior in Buchenwald, against the backdrop of those numerous crimes that swept across all of Germany during the time of fascism, did not seem particularly serious: yes, she humiliated the dignity of prisoners, yes, she forced them to work beyond measure, yes, she beat or ordered them to be beaten, yes, she sent them to death, Yes - provoked by sexual behavior. These were petty crimes.

After what was revealed at the Nuremberg trials, even the persecution by dogs and the rape of men by women did not seem particularly serious. In any case, these tricks of Mrs. Koch did not attract the death penalty. However, there was a special point for which she was accused - stripping skin from the bodies of prisoners and making souvenirs from it, in particular lamp shades. Having become acquainted with these “works of art,” journalists immediately nicknamed Elsa Frau Lampshade.

However, although witnesses willingly talked about leather and lampshades, there was no evidence. Just as they were not there in that memorable 1943, when Morgen lived for a whole month in Buchenwald, looking for the damned lampshades. Ten witnesses also persistently told him that they had seen with their own eyes how the commandant forced the prisoners to strip naked and carefully examined their skin. If I saw tattoos, I immediately noticed them. And she poked the stick at the prisoner - they say, use this one.

Others, it seems, even witnessed how the lady personally tore off the skin with her favorite brand from a living person. And she did it in the hospital with the help of the doctor there. And then from this leather... Well, yes - lampshades. Three pieces, witnesses said, were seen in her house. Morgen investigated the rumors. However, the human lampshades turned out to be goatskin lampshades, and the issue of tattoos in the camp was dealt with by Dr. Kremer - the same one who was killed on the orders of Karl Koch.

The scientific work Kremer conducted involved a combination of criminal history and body tattoos. Obviously, the doctor included illustrative material in the research. True, here the witnesses swore that he did this only after death, that is, he tore the skin off the corpses. In 1943, Morgen abandoned this accusation as unpromising.

In 1947, when Elsa's first post-war trial took place, he acted as her defense lawyer. He knew what they would immediately accuse her of. And thanks to his efforts, this accusation was swept aside. Although the American judges tried very hard to convince Morgen to admit that there was evidence. But Morgen insisted that it was not. And leather souvenirs were made in Buchenwald not in the camp, but at a local factory, and not from human skin, but from goat skin, like those lampshades. The only trouble is that the factory was bombed back then. And there was no evidence.

Morgen was beaten. But, as an SS officer, he withstood the beatings. As a result, Mrs. Koch was imprisoned for only a few years. And this court decision caused a storm of rage, after which her case was transferred to a German court. Now she has been convicted full program to life imprisonment, regardless of lack of evidence.

In prison, Elsa managed to get pregnant and give birth to a son. A year later the boy was taken away, and only at the age of 19 did he find out who his real mother was. Instead of forgetting her and not remembering her, the young man began to visit Elsa. Last time he visited his mother shortly before her birthday in 1967. But Elsa did not live to see her birthday - she hanged herself. She was about to turn 61 years old. After her death, her son disappeared and was never seen again.

Nikolay KOTOMKIN

as an addition Saturday, March 19, 2011 13:11 ()

Elsa Koch had two diplomas: economics and commerce. she never worked in camp security, the barracks warden never had a weapon and did not have the right to escort a dog inside the camp, the German warden never had the right to touch or shout over the prisoners / Kapo did this / the German warden, like the Soviet one, never had to stay alone with the prisoners, there should always be two of them/

Elsa Koch did not work as a clerk, she worked as a secretary.

Her number on the National Socialist Member Card Mitgliedsnummer 1.130.836

Until 1942, there were prisoners in German camps who had no cash, and their funds were confiscated only by the court, so the Kochs could not use their finances to build a sports ground for prisoners... this was done by the state, in some cases the SS foundation.

A German female warden never had the opportunity to have contact with a male prisoner, even if there were cases of convoying a prisoner to a brothel after 1942. Therefore, it is not entirely clear who and how Elsa Koch could force to rape, as the wife of the main officer of the concentration camp.

Ober aufseherin.. and so on were not engaged in security, but in educating prisoners / order, discipline ... /

In 1942-43, moral purge processes took place among the SS command, on the initiative of Himmler, which revealed corruption in German concentration camps / many commandants received bribes and valuables from the Jewish lobby, or used prisoners for housework / in the SS court of honor, the Koch family were sentenced to punishment, Koch's father was hanged and deprived of membership in the SS order (the Gestapo gave life imprisonment for dad in 1943), and Koch's mother was kicked out of work.

Elsa Koch was arrested by the Anglo-American authorities, but acquitted in court (mainly due to the fact that she gave the necessary testimony to the SS court), she was released by order of the Governor General of the occupying American forces, Lucius Clay.
However, in 1947, at the insistence of the Soviet side and the East German occupied territories, a new American trial began in the Buchenwald-Dachau case, where Koch was sentenced to life imprisonment, but Koch filed an appeal in 1948, and the court, having reviewed the case, left her with 4 years in prison. .
Elsa Koch gave birth to a son, Uwe Köhler / 29. Oktober 1947 / in prison from an unknown father, despite the fact that there was strict isolation, she was even forbidden to communicate with her mother.

In 1951, at the insistence of the Soviet German eastern authorities and international Jewish organizations, the case of Elsa Koch was again reviewed and life imprisonment was again given, although at this trial /verdict 15. Januar 1951 erging in Augsburg das Urteil/ it was proven that Elsa Koch was not involved in collections of human tattoos in jars..

In 1966, Elsa Koch unsuccessfully tried to appeal the court review, but she was constantly rejected, and 2. September 1967 mysterious circumstances found hanging in her cell from a sheet /Bavarian special prison for women in Aichach/

To date, there is no evidence of Elsa Koch in crimes against humanity or cruel treatment of prisoners

Feature film /USA/ Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS... is a 1974 The film was directed by Don Edmonds, produced by David F. Friedman and written by Jonah Royston.